Never Apologise, Never Explain - James Craig [65]
There was a long BBC tradition of management ‘mentoring’ the talent. It was something that she had always robustly resisted, even if sometimes her would-be suitors put up quite a struggle. Ian Dale, the Managing Editor of Factual Programming (London), had been chasing his ‘little star’ for almost a year now. If Rosanna was not really in a position to tell him to get lost, she did nothing to give him any encouragement either. Now he had offered to drive her home. That should have been a major red flag, but she was pissed and tired and couldn’t be bothered to wait for a taxi, which could take ages at this time of night. It was already almost midnight and she had to be back in the studio by 8 a.m. tomorrow morning. Anyway, pissed or not, she was confident that she could handle Dale. If all else failed, she had her ace card, his wife Erica’s mobile number, prudently acquired from Dale’s secretary when it became apparent that he was going to be an ongoing nuisance. The number was programmed into her own phone. If he got out of order, she could just call up Mrs Dale, hand her husband the phone and invite him to explain himself.
Finally the Beemer made it through the last set of traffic-lights and turned into Gladstone Terrace. In front of her mansion block, Dale pulled into a bay marked Motorcycles Only and put the car into neutral. Spandau Ballet’s ‘Gold’ started playing on the radio. Rosanna didn’t know if she would make it inside in time; if not she could make use of the bushes either side of the front door. It wouldn’t be the first time, she thought ruefully.
‘That’s great, Ian, thank you.’ Before the car even stopped, she was trying to release the seat belt and make good her escape. However, in her intoxicated state, it was proving a difficult task.
Seeing her difficulty, Dale smiled lecherously. ‘Here, let me help.’
Putting one hand on her knee, he reached over for the buckle with the other, copping a quick feel of her left breast on the way.
‘Ian!’ It came out as a squeak rather than a shout. With a click, the belt released itself and he was all over her. She could smell his sweat and could hear his panting. She tried to sound forceful: ‘Get off!’
Grunting, he kept on pawing her, trying to force his tongue into her mouth. He was stuck half on top of her now, too heavy for her to try and lever him off. Her sense of nausea was overwhelming. A hand went between her legs. Energised, she pulled her thumb out of her right fist and slowly, deliberately, jabbed it into his left eye.
Immediately, both hands went to his face, and he slumped back into the driver’s seat. ‘Hell! My eye! You’ve blinded me.’
It took Rosanna a second to realise that she was no longer wearing the seat belt. But then, even as she reached for the door release, she felt a terrible pain in her stomach. Turning back to face Ian Dale, she was able to catch the look of horror in his good eye as she started to puke. For what seemed like an eternity, a prodigious stream of projectile vomit bounced off his shirt and pooled in his lap. Finally the retching finished. Rosanna took a moment to ensure that there was nothing more to come before taking some deep breaths through her mouth. Pulling a tissue from her pocket, she wiped her mouth daintily, before rolling it up into a ball and tossing it in the pile of sick. ‘Phew!’ She grinned, wiping a tear from her eye. ‘I feel a lot better for that.’
Ian Dale still had one eye clamped shut. The other was bulging in shock. It looked as if he was going to cry. The inside of the car was a complete mess and the smell was truly appalling. Rosanna opened the passenger door and swung her legs on to the pavement. ‘This is your wife’s car, isn’t it?’ She asked, turning back to take one last look at the